Manet Community Health Center names new CEO

Manet's board of directors announced today the appointment of John J. Holiver as the nonprofit company's fifth CEO in its 35-year history. Holiver, 57, a Holbrook native, will lead a growing health center that offers a range of urgent and primary-care services and provides outreach to patients with limited access to health care.

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By Patrick Ronan

The Taunton Daily Gazette, Taunton, MA

By Patrick Ronan

Posted Aug. 28, 2014 at 1:29 PM
Updated Aug 28, 2014 at 1:32 PM

By Patrick Ronan

Posted Aug. 28, 2014 at 1:29 PM
Updated Aug 28, 2014 at 1:32 PM

» Social News

Manet Community Health Center has hired a new CEO with more than 20 years of experience leading several Greater Boston hospitals.

Manet’s board of directors announced today the appointment of John J. Holiver as the nonprofit company’s fifth CEO in its 35-year history. Holiver, 57, a Holbrook native, will lead a growing health center that offers a range of urgent and primary-care services and provides outreach to patients with limited access to health care.

Major health care reforms, both on the state and federal level, have increased grant funding for health care groups like Manet, which this year opened a sixth practice in Taunton and started a major overhaul of its North Quincy location.

“I’m excited I’m jumping on a great team at a time when health centers are getting a lot of attention,” Holiver, who resides in Mansfield, said.

Manet’s other Quincy branches are in Houghs Neck, Snug Harbor and Quincy Medical Center, and it also operates a branch in Hull. The health center serves about 14,500 patients with 52,000 patient visits each year, and Holiver said expansion projects at the North Quincy and Hull branches will increase visits by about 50 percent.

Holiver, who starts his new job on Wednesday, worked as an independent consultant in the health care field for the past two years. Before that, he spent a year as president of Norwood Hospital.

Dating back to 1991, his other roles included: two years as president of St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Boston; five years as president of Caritas Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton; three years as senior vice president and chief operating officer at St. Elizabeth’s; and 10 years as vice president of administrative and clinical support services at South Shore Hospital in Weymouth.

“I’ve worked in hospitals where demographics have been all over the place,” Holiver said. “At the end of the day, it comes down to meeting and exceeding the expectations of our patients and their families.”

Holiver succeeds Henry Tuttle, who resigned as Manet’s CEO in June to take a job in California. Cynthia Sierra, the company’s senior director of public policy, served as interim CEO for the past two months.

Hank Rittal, president of Manet’s board of directors, said seven people were interviewed for the job. He said the board was impressed by Holiver’s experience in the health care industry as well as his personality.

“He has a presence about him,” Rittal said. “It’s very personable, but it’s also very professional.”

Holiver, who will work out of Manet’s new administrative offices in Milton, said he has already identified three goals he’d like to accomplish: to expand Manet’s public relations and marketing operations; to continue getting more patients to go to Manet before making unnecessary, and potentially costly, visits to emergency rooms; and to enhance the company’s community outreach efforts.